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Roswell Rudd


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Are there any Roswell Rudd-ites out there? I have been checking him out for quite awhile now, and I have tried to locate his few leader dates.

Has anyone checked out the Horo session, the one on which he plays all instruments? It is tough to find, but I managed to get a used copy on Ebay.

One early date of his (although not a leader date) is one he recorded with "Eli's Chosen 7", the dixie styled group he played with whilst attending Yale. This is an interesting inclusion in a Rudd collection, and indeed is dixie style, but listening toa young Roswell's approach to it is something else indeed.

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Count me in as a Roswell Rudd fan. I probably only have about six or seven discs with Rudd on them, but I always enjoy listening to his playing. I particularly like his work on the ESP disc with John Tchicai, and wish the New York Art Quartet's other recordings were more readily available. I haven't heard any of them outside of the ESP disc, but really want to!

I also think that some of Archie Shepp's best recordings (and I'm not really a Shepp fan) were made with Rudd. Too, the Liberation Music Orchestra. And then — how could I forget! — Rudd's work with Steve Lacy. Maybe I have more than seven discs with Rudd on them ...

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That ESP disc side with the NY Art Quartet is superb. I forget the label that the other NYAQ date is on, but I was given a bootleg of that one.

Other fave RR sides of mine include all of the Carla Bley big band sides. (Especially "European Tour '77") Thank God that Carla digs trombone players! Roswell got all sorts of space on her projects.

One can never overlook "School Days" with Lacy (which was recorded on the 2-track recorder allegedly owned by Jimmy Giuffrie). I have that on ESP vinyl and on of the CD reissues. I could listen to that 1,000 times, and it still sounds fresh.

Another nice side that he appears on with Lacy is "Trickles" I have it on LP and CD. It may be OOP, I am not sure.

I was a later convert to Roswell. When I first checked him out in the late 70's. I thought he was a complete fraud...of course, back then I thought Bill Watrous was God incarnate, so please forgive my youthful indiscretions. :blink:

And that brings up an interesting fact. When Watrous was living in NYC, he (for a period of time anyway) was pals with Roswell! I would never imagined those two having much in common, but they did hang.

Thankfully my ears came around. What he brings to the table (humor and irreverance for starters) cannot be dismissed! IMHO he spawned an entire generation of free style players.

Edited by slide_advantage_redoux
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The Roswell Rudd 1966 Impulse album 'Everywhere' is superb. A rare opportunity to also hear the incredible Giuseppe Logan.

Also like Rudd's 'Flexible Flyer' Arista album where Sheila Jordan made another poweful appearance.

Both albums need to be reissued.

Flexible Flyer was on CD by Black Lion. I found it new recently. Love it, LOVE IT, HELL, LOVE IT!!

"Everywhere" may be still found on that disc by Cecil Taylor, "mixed", which holds the three Taylor tracks from the Gil Evans "Into The Hot" album, and Rudd's "Everywhere". A superb album, indeed!

"Live in San Francisco" and "Mama Too Tight" are my favorite Archie Shepp albums. I do like Shepp, yet Rudd adds very much to them!

ubu

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I've been lookin' for a copy of ENRICO RAVA QUARTET for years...doesn't seem to be out on CD in the U.S. and the import has proved elusive...course, I haven't looked recently will have to do some sleuthing.

I love both FLEXIBLE FLYER and SCHOOL DAYS, and his work with SHEPP. I've heard the Herbie Nichols dates on CIMP (Cadence's label) are superb, too, I think they are continually available through Cadence.

FWIW, I also think Rudd wrote what are, bar none, the greatest liner notes by a musician I've seen - the ones for the Herbie Nichols Mosaic box. Informative and charming, they simply ooze the respect and affection Rudd had for Nichols as a person and musician.

Edited by DrJ
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I've been lookin' for a copy of ENRICO RAVA QUARTET for years...doesn't seem to be out on CD in the U.S. and the import has proved elusive...course, I haven't looked recently will have to do some sleuthing.

While amazon.de does list it as OOP, you seem to be able to order it directly via the ECM homepage. I never ordered from them directly, and the prize is certainly a proud one, but if their shipping conditions are alright, it might be digestable.

http://www.ecmrecords.com/ecm/recordings/1122.html

ubu

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Rudd is indeed a remarkable player but actually, I'd not been at all impressed by the first volume of the Unheard Herbie Nichols set & got rid of it. I don't remember it very clearly now, except that it was a bit disappointing if you actually wanted to hear the tunes played "straight": two were taken as unaccompanied solos, the lead-off tune was devoted to a drum solo, & I recall that the disc was dominated by an OK but very, very long reading of "Jamaica". Anyone have a more recent take on the disc(s)?

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Another vote for "Mohawk", "School Days", "Four For Trane" and the original New York Art Quartet. What about the Numatic Swing Band?-I've not played that for a while. It could do with an airing.

The reunion with Shepp has some of the old magic too.

Edited by JohnS
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I am sorry I didn't mention the numatik swing band jcoa lp. That is one of the strangest 'big band' albums I have ever heard! WIth the two bassists, two drummers, two percussionists, two tubas. and three french horns it is very bottom heavy, but it all makes wonderful musical sense! Dig Howard Johnson's wa-wa tuba solo on "Breathahoward" (he used the lid from a plastic trash can). I also like Sheila Jordan's take on Rudd's "Lullaby for Greg". If Roswell had never done another leader date aside from this one, he could rest easy. This one is classic.

There is another pairing of Rudd with John Tchicai on a quartet LP entitled simply "Roswell Rudd" but instead of Graves and Burrell, they are with bassist Finn von Eyben and drummer Louis Moholo. From appearances, this production looks like a bootleg. It appears to be a French release, but strangely enough the label is "America" (30 AM 6114). Anyone familiar with it? Is this considered a NYAQ LP proper with the different drummer and bassist? On side two there is a nice take on Monk's Pannonnica. Worth searching for.

Speaking of the NYAQ, my ESP-Disc (1004) is mis-labeled (on the LP itself). What is listed as side two per the printing is actually side one (and vice versa). I have always wondered about that.

Edited by slide_advantage_redoux
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There is another pairing of Rudd with John Tchicai on a quartet LP entitled simply "Roswell Rudd" but instead of Graves and Burrell, they are with bassist Finn von Eyben and drummer Louis Moholo. From appearances, this production looks like a bootleg. It appears to be a French release, but strangely enough the label is "America" (30 AM 6114). Anyone familiar with it? Is this considered a NYAQ LP proper with the different drummer and bassist? On side two there is a nice take on Monk's Pannonnica. Worth searching for.

I have this America LP. Recorded in Holland. Doubt that it's bootleg. As far as I know this is a legitimate issue (probably arranged through Rudd when he was staying in Paris).

A pretty good NYAQ-like date with Moholo doing a very creditable job of taking over Milford Graves' duties.

America was part of the Musidic labels conglomerate. They recorded quite a number of jazz musicians who were going through or staying in Paris in the late sixties-early seventies. They produced albums by the Art Ensemble of Chicago, Charles Mingus, Archie Shepp, Earl Hines, Frank Wright, Anthony Braxton and others.

There is also a second Roswell Rudd on Arista/Freedom 'Inside Job', an excellent date that was recorded at the Studio RivBea during the May 1976 Loft Festival there. Rudd played there with Enrico Raba on trumpet. They used the house rhythm section of Dave Burrell, Stafford James and drummer Harold White.

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There is another pairing of Rudd with John Tchicai on a quartet LP entitled simply "Roswell Rudd" but instead of Graves and Burrell, they are with bassist Finn von Eyben and drummer Louis Moholo. From appearances, this production looks like a bootleg. It appears to be a French release, but strangely enough the label is "America" (30 AM 6114). Anyone familiar with it? Is this considered a NYAQ LP proper with the different drummer and bassist? On side two there is a nice take on Monk's Pannonnica. Worth searching for.

This album is well worth seeking out.

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I may be hallucinating this, but I thought Roswell had an LP on ?Phillips at one time called Blown Bone.

That title cracks me up.

? never on CD.

Yes, this is another of Rudd's LPs, and one I am really trying to find. I have a tape of it. There is some terrific writing on it. "Blown Bone" is very hard to find. If anyone has a spare copy, I have some spares I would be willing to swap. I have extra copies of "European Tour 1977" and "Numatik Swing Band"

I haven't a clue as to whether or not "Blown Bone" ever made it to CD; I doubt it though.

Edited by slide_advantage_redoux
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There are a few newer ones to add to the list: HIGHLY recommended is "Broad Strokes" on Knitting Factory, a 'ballad' album including one riotous cut, "God Had A Girlfriend," about the birth, life and death of a jazz club in Greenwich Village in the 1970's; Elvis Costello's "Almost Blue"; the "Theme From Babe" (That'll do, pig.). There's also a Roswell "songbook" record featuring Roswell with the Charlie Kohlhase Quintet on Nada that is out of sight. Includes a 12 minute blues called "Joel" written for Herbie Nichols Dad. And though not as strong, a recording called "MaliCool" on Sunnyside where Ros plays with African musicians, including "Jackie-ing" and Beethoven's "Ode To Joy."

Edited by Lazaro Vega
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